ETHNO

What ETHNO does

ETHNO is a design research practice founded by Will Reese, Ph.D. and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with a second office in Salt Lake City. The firm provides ethnographic and psychoanalytic research services to enterprise clients, deploying senior researchers into consumers' homes and lived environments to surface unmet needs, latent motivations, and behavioral patterns that inform product, brand, and innovation strategy. Its stated methodology integrates ethnography, psychology, and visual thinking, and the practice is led by a small senior team that includes psychological anthropologists and design researchers.

The firm serves a roster of large global enterprises across consumer goods, pharmaceutical, and technology categories — publicly listed clients include Nike, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, SC Johnson, and Symantec. ETHNO's work has been recognized with four D&AD Pencils, including one Yellow Pencil, signaling category-level credibility within the design research profession. The firm operates without disclosed outside funding and functions as a project-based, premium-billed consultancy rather than a software or platform business.

Commercially, ETHNO generates revenue through custom research engagements sold to enterprise brand, innovation, and insights functions. Pricing is project-based, with billings consistent with high-end design research firms serving Fortune-class clients. The model depends on retaining senior interpretive talent and winning repeat or referral-based engagements; there is no indication of subscription, retainer, or productized revenue. The firm's small headcount (~10) and project-driven structure make it talent-scalable rather than labor-scalable.

Name

ETHNO

Legal name

ETHNO

Website

https://ethnoinsights.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ETHNO is a Portland-based design research practice founded by Will Reese, Ph.D. that delivers ethnographic and psychoanalytic research to enterprise clients such as Nike, P&G, GSK, and SC Johnson, operating from offices in Portland and Salt Lake City.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Design Research Consulting

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Qualitative Research (Focus Groups, IDIs, Ethnography) (MPAAALAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Environmental & Experiential Brand Design (Retail/Exhibit/Signage) (MPAAAEAG)

Keywords

• Design research
• Ethnographic research
• Consumer insights
• Brand strategy consulting
• Trend forecasting

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland, Oregon

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Design Research Consulting Services: Professional services revenue from ethnographic research, customer insight development, trend forecasting, brand strategy, and product concept definition engagements with corporate clients

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

ETHNO is a design research practice that delivers ethnographic and psychoanalytic consulting services to enterprise clients. The firm helps organizations develop branded products, services, and spaces by conducting field-based consumer research to understand how people really live, what is emotionally at stake for them, and how customers' behaviors and motivations should inform product, brand, and strategy decisions.

Product overview

ETHNO is a design research practice offering a unified suite of psychoanalytic and ethnographic research services. The core methodology is organized around four interconnected service pillars—Strategy, Behavior, Emotional Truth, and Story—which are supported by four foundational practice areas: Customer Insight (profiling, experience modeling), Trend Forecasting (attitude and market shift analysis), Brand Strategy (character, story, positioning), and Product Concept Definition (opportunity framing, experience principles). Together, these services help clients create branded products, services, and spaces that enrich everyday life.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy Discovery and strategic planning engagement that maps business objectives across disciplines to ensure that research discovery serves the overarching strategy of the client's brand or product.
• Behavior Ethnographic research engagement focused on observing and understanding what people actually do, learning from their movements and actions in context to surface how customers interact with products and services.
• Emotional Truth Research engagement that uncovers emotional stakes for customers and what moves them, using psychoanalytic and ethnographic techniques to help teams understand what 'amazing' feels like for their target audience.
• Story Brand narrative engagement that helps teams craft the right story for a business opportunity by finding the 'through-line' connecting brand, market, and customer values.
• Customer Insight Foundational practice offering customer profiling and experience modeling to understand customer needs and behaviors for enterprise clients.
• Trend Forecasting Foundational practice analyzing attitude shifts, market shifts, and influence networks to forecast emerging consumer and cultural trends for enterprise clients.
• Brand Strategy Foundational practice defining brand character, story, and positioning for enterprise clients based on consumer research insights.
• Product Concept Definition Foundational practice providing opportunity framing and experience principles to define new product concepts for enterprise clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Products earning Red Dot Design Award, AIGA Design Award, and IDSA Gold Medal

Named customers20 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• IDEO: Global design and innovation consultancy with deep human-centered research, brand strategy, and product concept capabilities. Competes for the same enterprise insight and innovation budgets as ETHNO but at much larger scale.
• Designworks (BMW Group): Strategic design studio offering brand, product, and experience design to enterprise clients. Overlaps with ETHNO on enterprise insight, brand strategy, and product concept work.
• Lippincott: Established brand strategy consultancy combining consumer insight with positioning and identity work. Direct overlap with ETHNO's Brand Strategy and Customer Insight practice areas.
• Frog Design: Global design and strategy firm (part of Capgemini Invent) with research, brand, and product definition practices. Overlaps with ETHNO on enterprise ethnographic research and product concept work.
• Wolff Olins: Global brand consultancy that combines consumer insight with brand strategy and identity. Competes with ETHNO for the brand strategy portion of enterprise insight budgets.

Direct peers

• Smart Design: Product design and research firm serving enterprise clients across consumer goods, healthcare, and technology — directly comparable to ETHNO in product concept definition and design research engagements.
• ReD Associates: A strategy consultancy built explicitly on psychoanalytic and ethnographic methods for uncovering consumer insight. Closest direct peer to ETHNO in methodology, customer base (global enterprise), and deliverable type.
• Landscape (Strategy & Design): Boutique strategy and design consultancy using human-centered research to drive brand and product strategy. Comparable scope, methodology, and target buyer profile to ETHNO.
• Ziba Design: Portland-based design and innovation consultancy that combines design research with brand and product strategy. Same regional geography as ETHNO and overlapping enterprise clients (Ziba itself appears as an ETHNO client/partner).
• The Clearing: Boutique strategy and design firm specializing in research-driven brand and product strategy for enterprise clients. Comparable in size and method mix to ETHNO.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/ethnoinsights
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ethno

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ETHNO